Toronto cabbies, strippers collecting welfare

A report going to the city’s audit committee finds 1,539 people holding business licences from the city — including 759 cabbies, 104 strippers, 170 holistic practitioners and 32 buskers — collected around $20 million in welfare payments while claiming they had zero income between January 2010 and December 2011.

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Almost 800 Toronto cab drivers picked up welfare cheques from the city in the last two years.

A report going to the city’s audit committee next week finds 1,539 people holding business licences from the city — including 759 cabbies, 104 strippers, 170 holistic practitioners and 32 buskers — collected around $20 million in welfare payments while claiming they had zero income between January 2010 and December 2011.

“What this is showing is about 800 taxi drivers are reporting zero income and are claiming welfare,” Minnan-Wong said.

“Eight hundred seems to be a big number ... You’ve also got over 100 burlesque entertainers — I think those are strippers — who are reporting zero income. That’s another interesting question.”

While Minnan-Wong acknowledged some of those taxi drivers may really have zero income, he doubted they all did.

“Eight hundred taxi drivers? I find that hard to believe,” he said.

“If they are making money from driving a cab and claiming welfare, that’s just disgusting.”

City auditor general Jeff Griffiths reviewed Toronto Employment and Social Services’ processes for verifying reporting of income, in particular the reporting of income by welfare recipients who have a business licence with the city. Next week, councillors will mull over seven recommendations the city could take to improve the system.

The report notes holding a business licence doesn’t guarantee someone is receiving additional income but argues it is a factor that should be considered by Toronto Employment and Social Services when reviewing eligibility and employment service planning.

The cases are only a fraction of all those on welfare in the city — Toronto Employment and Social Services had 170,000 cases last year and shelled out approximately $915 million in “basic financial assistance.”

Minnan-Wong said the city should be quick to take action on the issue.

“We should take the actions we need to take to protect the taxpayers from making these payments that we shouldn’t be making,” he said.

“If a taxi driver or any of these other individuals are not reporting their income we need to stop that occurrence from happening because we’re paying out money in the form of welfare payments that we shouldn’t be giving them.”

The Ward 34, Don Valley East councillor said he originally raised the issue with the auditor general after hearing from taxi drivers frustrated others were driving cabs and claiming welfare.

“I think when the public hears about this, it just sickens them,” Minnan-Wong said.

“I think in every industry there are guys that try to beat the system and we need to close this loophole because they are ripping off the city.”

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, the chairman of the audit committee, said “something has to be done about it.”

“We can’t have people that are beating the system,” he said. “It makes me wonder how many people are beating the system that aren’t on our list for a (City of Toronto) licence.”

Holyday said he’ll be asking for advice from the auditor general and the city solicitor on how to crack down.

“We shouldn’t let that go on and if it is fraud, it is fraud. And if it is (fraud) then the police should be called in,” he said.

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at the business licences holders (and the type of licence they hold) reporting zero income and collecting welfare from the City of Toronto in 2010-11: